Tasneem Hossain, Director, Continuing Education Centre
Moderator 
ACCELERATE ACTION FOR A BETTER FUTURE
Imagine a world free of bias, free of gender inequality, discrimination against women in everyday life. A world where a woman is not seen as weak, or a commodity. A diverse, equitable and inclusive world, where each human being is treated equally- be it a man or a woman.
Every year, 8 March is observed globally to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women; a day to honor women and their contributions to the family, society and the world. It’s a day for creating awareness to take actions to dissolve gender disparity. It also focuses on women's rights where issues such as education, reproductive rights and violence and abuse against women are addressed.
International Women's Day, also known as IWD for short, has its seed in the labour movement in the USA in 1908. About 15,000 women walked through the streets in New York City demanding shorter working hours, better wages and their rights to vote. Later women in Soviet Russia brought out processions demanding their rights to vote and this demand was accepted in 1917. It was later recognised as an annual event on 8 March during International Women's Year 1975 by the United Nations (UN). In some countries this day is a public holiday, some countries have half-holiday for female employees.
Women celebrate the day wearing purple colour. Purple is symbolic for women, internationally, signifying justice and dignity. A combination of purple, green and white colour symbolizes equality of women which originated from the Women's Social and Political Union in the UK in 1908. Green symbolises hope and white purity. But as ‘purity’ being a controversial concept nowadays, it is sparingly used. There’s a new introduction of yellow color representing a ‘new dawn’. It’s commonly used to signify a second wave of feminism. Thus, purple with green represents traditional feminism, purple with yellow represents progressive contemporary feminism.
The UN observes the day each year with a particular issue, campaign, or theme for women's rights. Globally the day is commemorated in a variety of ways. Some programmes reflect its political origins. Processions are brought out with protests and calls for radical changes in women’s lives; activities and cultural programmes are arranged to celebrate womanhood.
The International Women's Day, 2025 theme is "For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment." In order to achieve a future where all people are treated equally, this year's theme looks for actions to provide equal rights, power, and opportunities for women.
Sadly, there are immense barriers to gender equality.
Implementation of the right action and support, can enhance positive progress for women everywhere.
According to the UN, there are some actions that can make a remarkable difference.
1. A Digital Revolution where policies should be implemented to bring technology closer and work friendly for women and enact policies that bridge the digital gender gap.
2. About one in ten women live in extreme poverty. Investing in national budgets to strengthen social protection, public services for women can help them get an equal chance to fight poverty.
3. Although, there are laws against violence for women, poor implementation of laws taken against the perpetrators fails in women protection. According to some data, one in three women experience violence in their life. Governments need to enact policies and implement laws for zero immunity towards violence against women. Investment in women’s rights organisations working to prevent and end violence can also help.
4. More women should be given opportunities in decision-making positions in politics, business and institutions.
5. Conflict-related sexual violence is soaring day by day. National plans should be set up to help fund women's organisations in times of crises and conflict areas.
I believe, international intervention and laws should also be enforced for these crimes.
6. The issues of climate change and sustainability are one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century. These continue to have severe and long-lasting impacts on the environment; and economic and social development worldwide. Women are increasingly being recognized as more vulnerable to climate change impacts than men, as they comprise the majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent on the natural resources which climate change threatens the most.
Climate change leads to natural hazards such as landslides, floods and hurricanes. These may lead to displacement of households resulting in unprotected shelters for women; making them more vulnerable to sexual assaults. Poverty may strike, leaving women to be more at risk for gender-based violence at home. It also leads to an increase in girl child marriages, worsening sexual and reproductive health.
Despite these challenges, women and girls are playing dominant roles in their contributions to climate change, its mitigation, and active and efficient response, to build a more sustainable future for all.
Yet, they are disproportionately impacted by poverty; their efforts undermined due to socio-cultural norms limiting their full participation in leadership and key decision-making processes. Unfortunately, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the poor socio-economic status of women more and threatened the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (5) “achieving gender equality and women empowerment”.
We must also remember that ending all forms of discrimination, against women and girls, is their basic human right. Their voices need to be heard without fear, without repression.
It’s crucial to empower women and promote gender equality in accelerating sustainable development. To acquire this, ending all forms of discrimination towards women and providing equal access to education and opportunities for employment is a must. It will eventually help them to be equal players in decision making; be it climate change or other issues and have a ripple effect on all other development areas. Without gender equality a sustainable future and an equal future will just be a dream.
Though, we have achieved a little of some of the goals it requires a lot to be done. At the current rate of progress, according to data from the World Economic Forum, it will not be until 2158, to reach full gender equality.
To speed up the progress, to achieve gender parity, we need to efficiently and effectively increase the momentum of action in addressing the barriers and biases faced by women in all spheres of life, globally.
The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2025 is #AccelerateAction
#AccelerateAction calls for worldwide action to find out practical plans, policies, resources and activities for women's advancement worldwide.
Though, governments have a greater role to play in advancing gender equality and women’s rights, we all have responsibilities in accelerating the process.
A collective effort is needed by all who care about human rights to remove this gender bias.
We, as individuals, are responsible for our thoughts and actions. Let’s celebrate women's achievements. Raise awareness against bias. Let’s work to break the bias. Take action for equality.
It starts from our own households first, then the society, educational institutions, our workplaces and the world around us.
Will you be a part of the greater good and help break the bias?
Break the bias when you see the girl child in the womb.
Break the bias when you discriminate between a boy child and a girl child.
Break the bias and give her education.
Break the bias in the workplace and give equal opportunities and wages to women force.
Break the bias the way you look at a woman: she is not a commodity or a good.
She is a human just like you and him.
She is equal - treat her equally – T.H.
There is a river of intelligence and wisdom hidden inside women. Their voices need to be heard without fear or oppression. It can have great impact in decision making for the greater good of humanity.
Be the one to champion women’s rights and to bring their glory to the fore today for a sustainable tomorrow.
Be a part of the movement for gender parity for our own good for today, tomorrow and forever.
Let’s rise together to Accelerate Action for gender equality.
Instagram post of the writer posted by IWD
Facebook post of the writer posted by IWD
References:
United Nation, International Women’s Day 8 March.
Claire ZILLMAN, Why You Should Wear Purple on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2018.
UN Women, International Women’s Day 2022: ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’, 3 DECEMBER 2021.
International Women’s Day, IWD 2025 campaign theme is 'Accelerate Action'.
Tasneem Hossain
Director, Continuing Education Centre (CEC)
Multilingual poet, columnist, op-ed and fiction writer, educator,
translator and training consultant.
